25th - 28th Feb - Beth and Stew's in Dunedin
Knowing that we were heading to civilisation after 3 days of tramping we had a long hot shower in Queenstown and scrubbed our bits ready to be able to hug Beth and Stew without feeling like totally stinky traveller types - I even did my arm pits and James combed his dreds! After that we hopped in LT and she speedily took us through the stunning sunny and hot Otago fruitlands to sunny(?) but very beautiful Dunedin!
We arrived at 81 Manor Road with excited tummies as we hadn't seen them since our exploits in Hong Kong! After big hugs and a cold beer pressed firmly into our hands we had a grand tour of their totallly lush new home. Three stories of Victorian Englishness slap bang in the city centre with 'awesome' sea views from bedrooms, kitchen and 'smoking room'. It's a beautiful place with loads of character and plenty of exciting DIY to keep them busy - although it looks v. cool already!!
Before long we were huddled into the Carisbrook Stadium for the Highlanders (yeah) v. Auckland (boo hiss). Fantastic to be there and defo worth the early start! Having said that Beth and I were too busy gassing over several cans of Speights and didn't even notice who won! We were pleased, however, not to leave the stadium with pockets full of wee - we had been warned that this is common practice in the terraces but not tonight! Maybe it was something that just Stew used to do when he was a student here!?! Hee hee!!
A good pub crawl was rudely interupted by a diversion by me as my zip had broken - I couldn't hit funky Dunedin with my pants showing! We were then sidetracked in their smoking room with their hubblybubbly shisha imported all the way from Friendly Kilburn - lovely apple which Beth enjoyed imitating dragons with. Photos to come!
After this we hit the town for our belated pub crawl and had a fantastic night (our first caipirinias this side of the equator!) - crawling into bed at some ungodly hour!
The next day was 'a great day for a crate day' so we headed to Gardies (a dodgy but v. cool student bar) with a good crowd and knocked back several crates in the sunshine. This was after we had been treated to an Italian Job styleee tour of Dunedin in their lush new mini!
Sunday was a cultural day - seeing Royal Northern Albatrosses - and Beth's lush new school. How different can you get from Colindale!? As it was a school night for some we had a chilled evening home, scoffing on Stew's yummy homemade cuzza!
Monday morning was show and tell for Beth's class. She brought her English friends to show and we were seen! Her class are amazing - all so 'nice and normal'! They were lively and chatty, telling us where to go and where not to. Strangley Bluff kept coming up as somewhere to skip! (see next chapter when we get round to it - it's quite hard spending a sweaty hour or two in a crumby internet cafe when we could be drinking cold beer, watching seals and the sun set!)
All in all a fab time with Beth and Stew in Friendly Dunedin - so much so we planned another stop the following weekend!
We arrived at 81 Manor Road with excited tummies as we hadn't seen them since our exploits in Hong Kong! After big hugs and a cold beer pressed firmly into our hands we had a grand tour of their totallly lush new home. Three stories of Victorian Englishness slap bang in the city centre with 'awesome' sea views from bedrooms, kitchen and 'smoking room'. It's a beautiful place with loads of character and plenty of exciting DIY to keep them busy - although it looks v. cool already!!
Before long we were huddled into the Carisbrook Stadium for the Highlanders (yeah) v. Auckland (boo hiss). Fantastic to be there and defo worth the early start! Having said that Beth and I were too busy gassing over several cans of Speights and didn't even notice who won! We were pleased, however, not to leave the stadium with pockets full of wee - we had been warned that this is common practice in the terraces but not tonight! Maybe it was something that just Stew used to do when he was a student here!?! Hee hee!!
A good pub crawl was rudely interupted by a diversion by me as my zip had broken - I couldn't hit funky Dunedin with my pants showing! We were then sidetracked in their smoking room with their hubblybubbly shisha imported all the way from Friendly Kilburn - lovely apple which Beth enjoyed imitating dragons with. Photos to come!
After this we hit the town for our belated pub crawl and had a fantastic night (our first caipirinias this side of the equator!) - crawling into bed at some ungodly hour!
The next day was 'a great day for a crate day' so we headed to Gardies (a dodgy but v. cool student bar) with a good crowd and knocked back several crates in the sunshine. This was after we had been treated to an Italian Job styleee tour of Dunedin in their lush new mini!
Sunday was a cultural day - seeing Royal Northern Albatrosses - and Beth's lush new school. How different can you get from Colindale!? As it was a school night for some we had a chilled evening home, scoffing on Stew's yummy homemade cuzza!
Monday morning was show and tell for Beth's class. She brought her English friends to show and we were seen! Her class are amazing - all so 'nice and normal'! They were lively and chatty, telling us where to go and where not to. Strangley Bluff kept coming up as somewhere to skip! (see next chapter when we get round to it - it's quite hard spending a sweaty hour or two in a crumby internet cafe when we could be drinking cold beer, watching seals and the sun set!)
All in all a fab time with Beth and Stew in Friendly Dunedin - so much so we planned another stop the following weekend!
posted by Polly and James at Wednesday, March 09, 2005
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